Wandering is Soul serenity. Talk to the trees and they will reveal the beautiful beings and the tiny details lost in the great expanse. I always thank them for allowing me into their home and ask that they might show me what often goes unseen.

You are never really alone hiking in the Forest. Often when I hear a noise or see slight movement I freeze and slowly raise my camera. More often than not I never see what made the sound or produced the blur. Sometime however in this elaborate game of hide and seek we are shocked to find we are nearly nose to nose in the dense foliage. Such was my encounter with the black stripe whitetail deer.

I have spotted turtles on almost every trail in Hot Springs National Park. Tiny to big I have admired their beauty and ability to survive on a variety of terrain. Other than munching leaves I have rarely seen a turtle eat in the wild. A morning hike revealed a juvenile ornate box turtle on the trail pulling a big worm from the ground for its breakfast. I moved carefully around admiring the firm grasp on the prized food. This is the second ornate box turtle I have seen in the park this year (different mountains/trails) and hopefully this is a sign of population growth.

Mostly I see chipmunks scurrying on fallen trees, popping out of fallen leaves and sitting on twigs or small rocks. Recently I heard a noise above me in a small tree growing from a tall rock outcrop. I expected to see a bird or maybe a squirrel but not a chipmunk. Atop the rock the chipmunk had created a home. On close inspection what looked like random debris on the rock surface was a carefully built structure. A moss. leaf, fern, mud hut for the chipmunk with an easily overlooked entrance. The small trees growing from the rock had berries which the chipmunk was climbing to retrieve and then sit and eat. When I say sit I mean like a human might on a chair. This was a place I had passed on hundred plus occasions and on this day its secrets were revealed.

It is hard no to get excited by long trail shots and the canopy created by spring leaves. I stand in awe of them before each hike. The tiny details along the trail edges are the delicate brush stroke on Nature’s canvas. They are a delightful and every changing reminder of the fragile ecosystem we share.